Monday, September 15, 2008 7:59:08 AM
SWVC / Sackets Harbor Brewing Co.
DEMAND FOR HOPS JUMPING
BREWING BOOM: Price of plant soars nationwide; N.Y. eyed as niche market
By MARTHA ELLEN
TIMES STAFF WRITER
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2008
The solitary hop plant that grows in front of Sackets Harbor Brewing Co. yields enough cone-shaped flowers to flavor 221 gallons of an English-style bitter.
Home brewers, brew pubs and microbreweries might have a thirst for more if someone other than brewmaster Andrew S. Gersten grew hops.
"There could be a local market if you could grow enough of it and be consistent. I'd be interested," Mr. Gersten said. "Right now, we mostly get our hops from the West Coast, England, Germany and Czechoslovakia."
Despite the lack of hop farms in the north country, the plant is becoming a growth industry across the country.
"Everybody's real enthused about it because the price has jumped dramatically," said Larry F. Fisher, president of the Northeast Hop Alliance. "There's been quite a bit of interest with people wanting to grow them."
Hops that were selling for $8 to $9 per pound last year are bringing about $22 per pound this year, Mr. Gersten said.
The global yield has been lower than average because of poor weather and disease, coupled with increased attention from specialty brewers.
"The New York State Brewers Association is extremely interested in New York hops as a niche market because they're local and fresher," Mr. Fisher said. "Some brewers want to try green hopping, which is where you pick the cone and get it in the brew within a day."
Hops are the female flower cones of the hop plant and are used mostly to flavor and preserve beer. Some ales have high levels of hops, which provide bitterness and a distinctive aroma. India pale ales were so-called because they were produced as part of the rations for the British Empire's colonial troops. Hops slow bacterial growth so the ale could survive the trip from England to India.
Hop growing was once a mainstay of north country agriculture. Watertown was touted in 1854 as having the largest crop of hops in the country, and some farms in Franklin County grew it well into the 1940s.
Madison County, where Mr. Fisher grows 1,600 plants on 2 acres, was a heavy producer. It celebrated the culture of the 19th-century hop industry in Central New York over the weekend. And in the Schoharie Valley around Middleburgh, farmers have preserved old hops barns, where the buds were hung to dry after harvest.
The heyday of hops in New York drained away for several reasons, including competition from Western states and Prohibition. A fungus that proved difficult to eradicate took hold in some New York fields.
New mildew-resistant vines have helped hops make a comeback, Mr. Gersten said.
"In the past, it was grown here in a fair amount," Cornell Cooperative Extension educator Stephen F. VanderMark said. "Have we turned our back on something that could be an alternative crop? I would not discourage anyone from looking further into it."
Local pride is part of the success of microbreweries.
"We have a few of those here," Mr. VanderMark said. "It's a shame we couldn't capitalize on that."
Still, commercial growing of hops is not as easy as sticking a root in the ground and watching it shoot upward.
Most breweries prefer the harvested hops pelletized or dried, compressed into bricks and frozen.
The plant is perennial but takes about three years to come into its own. Hops prefer sun and adequate water and require a tall, stout trellis and twine for training the vines.
Mr. Fisher recommends a mechanical harvester for anyone growing more than 100 plants because it takes about 45 minutes to harvest a plant by hand.
The plants spread by underground runners, so they can take over an area. They were once so prolific in the north country that there are still some around.
"They're in the hedgerows," Mr. Fisher said. "Unfortunately, nobody knows what the variety is, so they're pretty much unusable to the brewer."
PHOTOS
NIKO J. KALLIANIOTIS / WATERTOWN DAILY TIMES
Sackets Harbor Brewing Co. brewmaster Andrew S. Gersten checks a tank Friday at the brewery.
NIKO J. KALLIANIOTIS / WATERTOWN DAILY TIMES
Sackets Harbor Brewing Co. brewmaster Andrew S. Gersten stands Friday in front of a hop vine at the brewery.
SOURCE:http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20080915/NEWS05/309155891/DEMAND+FOR+HOPS+JUMPING
DEMAND FOR HOPS JUMPING
BREWING BOOM: Price of plant soars nationwide; N.Y. eyed as niche market
By MARTHA ELLEN
TIMES STAFF WRITER
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2008
The solitary hop plant that grows in front of Sackets Harbor Brewing Co. yields enough cone-shaped flowers to flavor 221 gallons of an English-style bitter.
Home brewers, brew pubs and microbreweries might have a thirst for more if someone other than brewmaster Andrew S. Gersten grew hops.
"There could be a local market if you could grow enough of it and be consistent. I'd be interested," Mr. Gersten said. "Right now, we mostly get our hops from the West Coast, England, Germany and Czechoslovakia."
Despite the lack of hop farms in the north country, the plant is becoming a growth industry across the country.
"Everybody's real enthused about it because the price has jumped dramatically," said Larry F. Fisher, president of the Northeast Hop Alliance. "There's been quite a bit of interest with people wanting to grow them."
Hops that were selling for $8 to $9 per pound last year are bringing about $22 per pound this year, Mr. Gersten said.
The global yield has been lower than average because of poor weather and disease, coupled with increased attention from specialty brewers.
"The New York State Brewers Association is extremely interested in New York hops as a niche market because they're local and fresher," Mr. Fisher said. "Some brewers want to try green hopping, which is where you pick the cone and get it in the brew within a day."
Hops are the female flower cones of the hop plant and are used mostly to flavor and preserve beer. Some ales have high levels of hops, which provide bitterness and a distinctive aroma. India pale ales were so-called because they were produced as part of the rations for the British Empire's colonial troops. Hops slow bacterial growth so the ale could survive the trip from England to India.
Hop growing was once a mainstay of north country agriculture. Watertown was touted in 1854 as having the largest crop of hops in the country, and some farms in Franklin County grew it well into the 1940s.
Madison County, where Mr. Fisher grows 1,600 plants on 2 acres, was a heavy producer. It celebrated the culture of the 19th-century hop industry in Central New York over the weekend. And in the Schoharie Valley around Middleburgh, farmers have preserved old hops barns, where the buds were hung to dry after harvest.
The heyday of hops in New York drained away for several reasons, including competition from Western states and Prohibition. A fungus that proved difficult to eradicate took hold in some New York fields.
New mildew-resistant vines have helped hops make a comeback, Mr. Gersten said.
"In the past, it was grown here in a fair amount," Cornell Cooperative Extension educator Stephen F. VanderMark said. "Have we turned our back on something that could be an alternative crop? I would not discourage anyone from looking further into it."
Local pride is part of the success of microbreweries.
"We have a few of those here," Mr. VanderMark said. "It's a shame we couldn't capitalize on that."
Still, commercial growing of hops is not as easy as sticking a root in the ground and watching it shoot upward.
Most breweries prefer the harvested hops pelletized or dried, compressed into bricks and frozen.
The plant is perennial but takes about three years to come into its own. Hops prefer sun and adequate water and require a tall, stout trellis and twine for training the vines.
Mr. Fisher recommends a mechanical harvester for anyone growing more than 100 plants because it takes about 45 minutes to harvest a plant by hand.
The plants spread by underground runners, so they can take over an area. They were once so prolific in the north country that there are still some around.
"They're in the hedgerows," Mr. Fisher said. "Unfortunately, nobody knows what the variety is, so they're pretty much unusable to the brewer."
PHOTOS
NIKO J. KALLIANIOTIS / WATERTOWN DAILY TIMES
Sackets Harbor Brewing Co. brewmaster Andrew S. Gersten checks a tank Friday at the brewery.
NIKO J. KALLIANIOTIS / WATERTOWN DAILY TIMES
Sackets Harbor Brewing Co. brewmaster Andrew S. Gersten stands Friday in front of a hop vine at the brewery.
SOURCE:http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20080915/NEWS05/309155891/DEMAND+FOR+HOPS+JUMPING
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